Rick Wood will run against Apodaca in '14

Tuesday

Oct 15, 2013 at 4:30 AM

Citing his concern about Republicans' “ill-advised” treatment of public education, school board member Rick Wood announced Monday he will run for the Democratic nomination to challenge state Sen. Tom Apodaca for his 48th District seat.

By Nathaniel AxtellTimes-News Staff Writer

Citing his concern about Republicans’ “ill-advised” treatment of public education, Henderson County school board member Rick Wood announced Monday he will run for the Democratic nomination to challenge state Sen. Tom Apodaca for his 48th District seat.The retired high school history teacher and basketball coach has filed an organizational report with the State Board of Elections, naming Laurel Park Mayor Pro Tem Richard Cooke as his campaign’s treasurer and former Hendersonville High coach Paul Goebel as its chair. Wood said he started mulling over a run for office after attending an August rally for public education outside Apodaca’s Hendersonville office, during which roughly 160 protesters decried state cuts made to teaching assistants, textbooks, classroom supplies and the lack of raises for teachers.“After that, I started seriously thinking that somebody needed to challenge Sen. Apodaca and get him to answer for some of his policies and legislation that he has helped guide through the General Assembly, especially from his important position as chairman of the Senate’s rules committee,” Wood said.Apodaca said Monday he welcomed Wood’s challenge. The six-term senator ran unopposed in the general election in 2012, but handily beat all Democratic comers in previous years.“I’m excited to have a campaign,” Apodaca said. “I enjoy campaigning. And I look forward to getting the real story told and seeing how he plans to come up with the money to pay for all of this — whether he’s going to raise taxes.”Wood noted that Apodaca has previously raised hefty campaign coffers — including $476,707 in 2012 — and has historically fared well with donations from political action committees from outside the 48th District, which includes Transylvania, Henderson and southern Buncombe counties. “The money and the power are daunting, but I’m not intimidated by that,” Wood said. “I guess it’s the old coach coming out in me — I’m willing to take on a challenge.”Wood also knows the district tilts heavily towards the GOP, but pledged to run a non-partisan, inclusive campaign focused on issues such as education, jobs, voting access and health care. He said his campaign committee consists of Democrats, Republicans and independents.“I know what the political climate is and has been, but I really think there are unaffiliated and Republicans who are also upset about what is happening, and I just believe I’ll get some of that vote,” Wood said. North Carolina used to be a leader in education, Wood said, both with it’s universities and at the K-12 level. In 2001, former Gov. Jim Hunt challenged the state to “have the best school system in the nation by 2010,” Wood said. “And now look where we are. We’re going in the other direction. I hope to reverse the trend.”Wood cited the General Assembly’s elimination of 7,300 education positions, including 3,850 teaching assistants, as well as the lack of raises for teachers during a time when legislators adopted a $50 million “school voucher” program. He said Henderson County now has 22 fewer TAs than last school year. “Somebody needs to speak for those educators,” Wood said. “If I’m fortunate enough to have the voters send me to Raleigh, I will speak up for teachers. They need to be respected for the important work that they do. They need to be fairly compensated.”In 2007-08, North Carolina was ranked 25th in the nation in teacher’s salaries, he said. Last year, they were 46th, “and with no additional raises, we’ll undoubtedly be toward the bottom,” Wood said. He worries the state is losing its ability to retain good teachers in the face of competition from better-paying states.“We’re already seeing it,” he said. “Our local school system has seen more turnover this year than we’ve seen in years. We hear stories about some going to South Carolina and Tennessee for better pay. A few are going to Buncombe County, where the local supplement is higher.”Apodaca said he respects teachers, but that raises weren’t in the cards when the state was faced with $1.5 billion in additional Medicaid costs, and other state agencies were taking bigger hits than education. He said K-12 education actually got $300 million more this year than last.“I wasn’t a math major, but $7.9 billion is more than $7.6 billion,” Apodaca said. “And that’s the only record that counts — the actual state appropriation.”Wood also took the legislature to task for what he called “voter repression,” referring to a GOP reform package that requires voter IDs, compresses early voting hours into seven fewer days, ends same-day registration and eliminated a program that encouraged students to register to vote in advance of their 18th birthdays.“Anything you do to make it more difficult to vote, I think, is not a good thing for democracy,” said Wood. “And I will work to increase voter turnout in fair, honest elections with voter-friendly voting procedures.”Apodaca said he’s “never heard of ‘voter repression,’ but my stance on voter ID has always been there and always will be. I think you should show an ID when you go to vote.” Wood said he plans to continue serving his second term on the Henderson County Board of Education during the campaign. The former basketball coach at Edneyville and West Henderson high schools said “if and when I’m elected, we’ll deal with that when the time comes.”Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or than.axtell@blueridgenow.com.

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